Hello February

Whoo hoo I made it through Dry January - details in my other blog Clare's Dry January and I'm y7% of the way to my target ... not sure I will get there but every penny, and pounds, helps towards Nuneaton North Scout Group Minibus Appeal.

I have been working on the church altar cloth, I met with the church warden today who is pleased with how it's going. I'll share more on a separate post later this month.

I have been stitching but gifts as it's our daughter's birthday this month and our son's girlfriend's. I'll share when the gifts have been given. 

I can share this little stitch ... Jo Verso's Day 1 in her 12 days of Christmas from her Cards and Keepsakes Book.

I used beads on the edging instead of French knots because they were hard to place on the fabric.

I'm doing the 12 days of Christmas for my church tree this year. I know many friends have stitched in the past for my trees and I also know how much the gifted stitching is appreciated by everyone at church.

If you would like to add to my tree this year you can stitch any design and any day (it doesn't matter if they are a one of the series), please choose your favourite out of any series.

There is no need to finish your ornament, please send the stitched piece in a card and I will make it up - thank you.

New home gifts

Finally yesterday our son and his girlfriend moved into their own home after renting for a few years. They were hoping to be in before Christmas but it took a little longer.

Our son runs a games business organising social meet ups twice a week and all day events throughout the year. He started All Mana of Games in a small room in a local pub  it has grown so much in 4 years he now fills a church hall with people enjoying time together playing board games, Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer, we're so proud of him. 

I stitched them a couple of coasters as a moving in gift. I found a dice pattern on etsy and changed the number to 6, their new house. It was tiny stitching with lits of little bits of colour and I added the white to give dimension.

And of course I baked a few cakes, they have friends helping today so much needed energy. 

 

A big project

I have many gifts to stitch this year as well as ornaments for my church tree as I'm doing a new theme after a few years recycling old ones. 

However I'm going to have to be very careful with my time and make sure I stitch in time required order especially as I have a large project to do this winter/spring.

Church have a beautiful altar cloth in need of repair. They have some funding but have asked me to mend the stitching and missing gold work. 

This is how it looked with the threads when I picked it up. 

There has already been some repair, the gold on the left design on the small piece and the third from  on right on the main design.

The colours included didn't seem quite right so I have used my DMC chart to check/change some. It was quite difficult as colours change over time. 

I wasn't intending to do any gold work but in places the holding stitches have been cut ready to replace and it is all disintegrating so I am taking it out as I work along. 

I'm starting at the left of the big piece, it seems to be stump work as the embroidery did not originally go through to the back and some pieces are not fully attached. I think two other stitchers have worked on repairs as some stitching now goes through to the back, at times it's hard to see what is original and what is repair. I'm trying to not go through the backing but it's not easy as the original fabric is falling apart.

So far I have done a small flower, it had no colour and I removed the gold. Hopefully it will look ok once the gold is there too.

I have also finished the first design (furthest right on the main picture), again removing the gold. I think I stitch a bit more blocky but it is now attached all round to the fabric. The photos show how it was when I got it, how it was after I'd removed the gold and tidied it up  and now after my stitching.

It is hard without a pattern, I'm trying to use the other designs as an idea but they all look different, hopefully this looks ok. 

I'm now working on this design, I've already done over 14 hours so it will be a long project. I think after this design I'm going to replace the gold work on the two I've done, that will help me see how it looks, I just need to see if there is enough gold in the items provided or if I need to order new. 

I'm only stitching when the daylight is good and couple of hours and not every day as I find it tiring on my eyes and stiffening on my back as I am sitting at the dining table.

As well as a stitching challenge I'm doing Dry January to help raise funds for our Scout minibus. Here's the link where you can read my story  there's a few photos too - Dry January Fundraising This is my family in 1999 when my Dad received his Silver Acorn, a high award in Scouting.

A busy month all in all and February is looking to be even busier with a few trips away already planned. 

Tom Mouse

My first stitch of 2026 was a little free kit that had been in my to do project bag for ages ..  years in fact. So long ago I no longer had the chart so I only had the photo to stitch from. 

I took this as my stitching (if I had time) on our cruise in December and I did make a start. I think the trickiest thing was working out the colours as there was three very light shades; creamy, beige and peachy. 

I'm so pleased how he came out, such a cutei character.

I haven't made him up yet but he'll be a Christmas card using the mount from the kit, although I will probably add some stars and a border.

Of course after I'd stitched him and was looking through my charts for my next project I found the chart, I'd saved the magazine page .... hee hee typical. 

First finish

I've finished my first ornament of 2026 and as with other years it us stuffed with the previous year's orts.

Winter Witch was one of the Challenge Designs at Needlecraft Haven and initially I wasn't sure about it but now she's stitched I love her. 

I save my orts in a beautiful bon bon jar my late mother-in-law bought me many years ago. It's surprising how many there are in just one year.

I'm very pleased with how she turned out. She's hanging on our tree and will be soon packed away with all the others until later this year when the festivities begin again.

Today is the start of Dry January and I'll be taking part this year to raise a bit more for our Scouts' minibus appeal. I have been involved in Scouting all my life, my parents were when I was young and Dad all his life. This year marks my 40th year as an adult volunteer so I'm trying to raise £400 to help towards buying a new minibus.

It's only day one so no problem at all but I fid make a Mocktail Espresso Martini as it's New Year's Day. It was very nice.

This is the link to my Just Giving page, I'll be sharing my non-alcoholic drinks throughout the month which I hope will keep me going. 

This photo that I'm using for the appeal was taken in 1999 when my Dad received Scoutings' second highest award, The Silver Acorn. As you can see our son was a cub, my step-dad also a uniformed volunteer and my Mum was wearing her Medal if Merit for her service to Scouting. 

Back to stitching, I have a big project that I need to get on with but I need to sort out a few smaller projects too. 

Wishing you all busy needles in 2026.

 

Christmas stitching

We had our family Christmas on the 28th when our daughter and our son-in-law were here too. It's so nice to have all six of us together, it only happens about 3 times a year. We often see our son and his girlfriend who live nearby and we do visit  our daughter and hubby in Wales but getting all together makes Christmas very special. 

I love buying gifts for them all, a bit like doing a stocking as the presents are all little bits. They all get the same time of a gift but made to suit them. They all get a bottle of something, they all get toiletries and other things like books, chocolates and socks! We give them money as their main gift so they can buy what they need; our daughter and son-in-law bought their first house this year and our son and girlfriend are hoping to move into their first owned house in the New Year. 

I stitched a house for our daughter and hubby for their first Christmas tree. It was one of the Seasonal Challenges at Needlecraft Haven. I only did the house part of the design and added their door number to the front door and added a label to the gift.

I had started to stitch the house for our son and girlfriend, I wasn't going to stitched the birds but I have stitched the Christmas tree next to the house. However with them not moving it didn't feel right to stitch it so it's in my UFO box ready to be finished for Christmas 2026. 

That said I had less than a week to stitch something else which is doable but not at the busiest time of year and Hubby has a birthday too so less stitching time. I managed to do this very cute snowmen couple from Durene Jones, they were impressed that I'd done it so quickly when I explained about the house. 

I have already started my orts ornament which I'm hoping to finish before the New Year. I have quite a few plans in 2026, I'll post about them on New Year's Day.

Christmas thank you

Yesterday was Christmas for just me and Hubby although we did meet my step-dad at our social club for a Christmas drink. Our family Christmas is the 28th when our son, his girlfriend, our daughter and our son-in-law will all be here. 

There is nothing Hubby and I want so we had a £30 budget so we had gifts to open.... we bought each other socks, smellies and books .... that's why we've been together for 40 years. 

We had a lovely Christmas dinner enjoying a bottle of our favourite Welsh wine from White Castle and Maderia wine from Blandy's (we visit them when in Funchal on our Canary Island cruises - link to blog post). 

My lovely friends at Needlecraft Haven spoilt me again this year with super gifts: stitching, chocolates, hand creams, a bag and knitted socks. We may be just a few but I really treasure their friendship, they certainly keep my going in many ways especially my stitching mojo .... thank you Julie, Gill, Mary & Christine.

I've been friends with Brenda in Canada since the late 1990s meeting on World of Cross Stitching forum. My gift has yet to arrive with Brenda although I posted it the end of November. The Canadian post seems much quicker as I received this lovely stitchy kit .... thank you Brenda 

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas Day, enjoy the continuing festivities.